Cross training with Curb-Found Treasure!

So yesterday was my rest day. Unfortunately I am finding that I really don’t like having days of no exercise. Maybe it’s because I am staring at calories on my phone whenever I eat, or maybe it is simply knowing I’m not doing anything – but either way I have become one of those people who is driven batty by doing no exercising. I also feel bleh if I do NOTHING.

My Daughter Demonstrating our Elliptical

Last night I ended up staying late due to its being a board meeting night, and was headed out not to long after – due to it being cub-scout night. I decided to tackle the elliptical for a simple 20 minute window. Now there is a short background story on this elliptical. I have a tendency to notice when my neighbors put big things out on garbage day, and also to consider whether or not it should have a place in my house. (My wife insists these things must take place after dark however..) Well, we lost some fantastic neighbors about a month ago and in the process of their moving out some things appeared at the curb. A never-before-used elliptical was too good to pass up. This treasure still had the plastic covering over the display! Now it isn’t a high-end elliptical, but I thought it would be a fantastic tool to see if a good one was something my wife and I should pick up. This one has multiple reviews on walmart.com, that mostly point out it has a short stride length. As my wife is only 5′ tall, this isn’t a bad thing!

Now, I was in a time crunch last night so I was only able to do 20 minutes, but it seemed better than 0 minutes to me. I worked up a sweat in that 20 minutes! According to its calorie meter I burned 320 calories in 20 minutes, although my daily mile and cardiotrainer guessed it closer to 200 calories. I find the 200ish to be more likely! Some of the reviews said it was loud, but compared to my treadmill it was dead-silent. My son was watching TV in the room while I was on it, and he didn’t turn up the volume (something he would normally do given ANY excuse.)

I did find it uses the same muscles, in the same way, as running hills – so it may not have been the best “Cross-Training” choice. But hey, it was only 20 minutes right?

I am continuing to pay more attention to what I eat. It’s not that I ate High Cholesterol horrible food before, just that I had a tendency to eat more than I was burning every day – and to NOT pay attention at all. (Tacos made with ground turkey instead of ground beef are fairly healthy – Unless you go back for thirds!) I am paying much more attention to the calories in foods (160 in 4 thin mints.. that means a sleeve (one serving) is 640 calories), and have found that by bringing food with me I am consistently feeling more full all day while eating fewer calories! I have also found that when I have eaten crap (we went to Moe’s the other day) and to much of it- I simply don’t’ feel as good.

I am trying very hard to like the Chobani Yogurts as well.. They are packed full of protein after all!

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I run, because I am a runner. Having realized that I have always "been a runner" - even when I went years with out running, I am learning how it has integrated itself in all aspects of my life.
When I started running in highschool, my perspective on life changed. Funny that I didn't realize how much it had affected it until just recently.